Category: Oliver Wilson

Northern Ireland’s hot prospect Rory Mcllroy has turned down the chance to join the US PGA Tour after finishing 20th at the US Masters last weekend.

The youngster was approached by officials during the week who offered him a ‘special temporary membership’ which would have meant that the money he has earned on US events this year would have counted towards their money list.

However, if Rory Mcllroy was to have ambitions of reaching the US Tour’s end of season play-offs, he would have had to play in 15 of their tournaments.

Considering his commitments to the European Tour and the new Race to Dubai, this wouldn’t have been practical for the 19-year-old. It would have been too much for him to take on at this early stage of his career.

Speaking about the situation, Rory Mcllroy said that joining the US Tour would have meant playing ‘four more tournaments in America’ than originally planned.

Overall, this is probably a sensible decision. Rory Mcllroy is at such a young age that he will have plenty of time to join the US Tour in the future. There is a chance that he would have been taken on too much if he went for it.

The media pressure on him is great enough already and this would have increased if he had joined the US PGA Tour.

Rory Mcllroy is one of the next generation of young golfers with a serious chance of winning a major golf tournament. But Mcllroy seems like a sensible young man with good advisors though, so they appear to have his best interests at heart.

The decision to decline the temporary membership has been passed on to the relevant people and now Rory Mcllroy can concentrate on the rest of the year.

Fellow European Tour members Ross Fisher and Oliver Wilson accepted similar invitations to that which Rory Mcllroy received.